I wanted to sprint to him immediately, sword blazing.
But Kaelric insisted nightfall was smarter, safer.
Barely.
The children told me adults were searching every street, every rooftop. The city was locked down. No one in or out. The children had been ordered to stay inside the orphanage, and the windows were shuttered.
Hours dragged. I dozed, then woke, then dozed again. Val used the quiet to give me a mental layout of the castle, her memory unfurling like a map inside my mind.
She warned that some places might have changed, but the structure rarely shifted.
I memorized hallways.
Staircases.
Hidden doors.
The likely location of the king’s chambers.
Elia’s mother.
Godric.
Every route I needed to take.
‘It might be a bloodbath. I want you to prepare your heart.’
Her tone was so serious that it chilled me.
I hesitated.‘Can’t we knock people unconscious like you did with the guard in the courtyard?’
‘I can try, but I fear that even unconscious Mind Render might be able to use their bodies.’
My eyes nearly bugged out of my head.
The thought of fighting an entire city, awake or asleep, made my pulse spike hard enough to make me sick.
Magic had rules I didn’t understand yet.
“I’ve heard rumors of Mind Render’s dark powers, Brynn. I just want to prepare you once we get in there. If he uses someone to hurt you, I’m going to take them out.”
Chills ran the length of my arms. Her warning crawled up my arms like ice under my skin. But not Elia’s mom or Godric, right?
The thought alone made my stomach lurch. I needed reassurance, desperately.
She was silent, and I was about to press her when I heard the girls coming back into the room.
“Lights out,” Mrs. Clay said. “I’m locking this door so you won’t come out until morning. If you have to pee, use the bedpan. This dangerous woman is still loose and we want to protect you.”
She shut the door, and my stomach sank. Lock the door?
For a flash of panic, it felt like a cage slamming shut, but then I remembered Val and her unlocking magic, and the knot in my chest loosened.
Footfalls padded toward me, soft and hesitant, and then the closet door creaked open.
A sleepy Karla peered in to look at me. “You going now?” she asked, rubbing her eyes with the back of her fist.
“In a few hours, when everyone is asleep,” I told her.
